Traditionally, cleaning agents formulated to clean oil and grease have been mineral spirit or organic solvent based. While effective cleaners, these agents are well known to be toxic and in most instances should not be brought in contact with human skin, because of their harsh chemical nature. Additionally, many of these organic compounds are highly volatile and give off noxious fumes. For this reason, the use of these cleaning agents must occur in well ventilated areas or confined to fume exhaust hoods. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved cleaning agent, which is adapted to remove oils, greases and other unwanted substances, and which is neutral and non-toxic.
The removal of dirt and grease from vehicle parts is commonplace in vehicle repair facilities. This operation often involves manually cleaning a part with a parts washer. The conventional vehicle parts washer includes a basin having cleaning devices and a pump for recirculating a cleaning agent from which dirt and particulates have been removed by filtration. In this regard, the use of an organic solvent based cleaning agent could result in the cleaning agent coming into contact with the skin of a person using the washer, and the fumes could be inhaled by the user. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved non-toxic, non-volatile, safe cleaning agent for use in parts washers and other related applications, where the cleaning agent was highly effective in the cleaning of the parts.
In order to maintain a safe work environment, vehicle maintenance facilities, and the like, must routinely scrub the soiled floor to remove waste, oil and grease therefrom. This is normally accomplished by utilization of a floor scrubber, either a hand operated scrubber or a self-propelled vehicle scrubber. The operation of a conventional floor scrubber generates large quantities of used cleaning agents mixed with oil and grease removed from the floor. Disposal of this waste can be difficult and costly. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved nontoxic, effective cleaning agent, which can be employed in floor scrubbers, and which, when used, can result in a readily disposed of residue.
With more and more hydrocarbon contaminated waste being generated by vehicle maintenance facilities, and the like, there is a pressing need for efficient, cost effective removal of the organic contaminants. When organic solvent cleaning agents are employed, the resulting oil/solvent wastes must be disposed of using conventional methods such as burial, landfill, dumping at sea and incineration. These disposal methods constitute a toxic threat to the environment. Thus, they usually are required to be disposed of according to the expensive toxic waste removal procedures.
The treating system of the foregoing patent application helps dispose of hydrocarbon contaminated wastes by utilizing bioprocessing remediation techniques and apparatus. These methods include aerobic bacterial biodegradation of hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbon utilizing bacteria convert the organic waste intermediate metabolites, often compounds with simple structures, which are not a threat to the environment. In some cases, bacterial metabolism of organic waste reduces hydrocarbons to their most basic elements carbon dioxide and water.
As disclosed in the foregoing patent application, the process of biodegradation takes place in a bioreactor. A bioreactor facilitates the growth of microorganisms by providing an aerobic environment, nutrients and a high surface area physical structure to support a large biomass within a bioreaction zone. The microorganisms must thrive within the bioreactor in order to effectively and efficiently biodegrade in flowing waste hydrocarbons. Since conventional cleaning agents include ingredients which will inhibit the growth of most microorganisms, and in many instances, especially with harsh organic solvents, effectively kill the microorganisms, such conventional cleaning agents are not suitable for use in the biological treating system. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved cleaning agent, which is non-toxic, and which, when used in conjunction with biodegradation processes, do not interfere with the proliferation of the microorganisms.